Retailers want 16-hour trucker workday (Walmart)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/08/trucker.rules.ap/index.html ^ | 3-9-05

[TXBSAFH]

Critics: 'Sweatshop-on-wheels amendment' Tuesday, March 8, 2005 Posted: 7:35 PM EST (0035 GMT) What's this? MyCashNow - $100 - $1,000 Overnight Payday Loan Cash goes in your account overnight. Very low fees. Fast decisions.... www.mycashnow.com Mortgage Rates Hit Record Lows Get $150,000 loan for $625 per month. Refinance while rates are low. www.lowermybills.com Compare Mortgage Offers Up to four free mortgage, refinance or home equity offers - one easy form. www.nextag.com LendingTree.com - Official Site Lendingtree - Find a mortgage, refinance, home equity or auto loan now. Receive... www.lendingtree.com YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated Retail Transportation or Create your own Manage alerts | What is this? WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roadways more dangerous for all drivers. Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican whose district includes Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, is sponsoring a bill that would allow a 16-hour workday as long as the trucker took an unpaid two-hour break. The proposal is expected to be offered as an amendment during debate over the highway spending bill on Wednesday. "Truckers are pushing harder than ever to make their runs within the mandated timeframe," Boozman said. "Optional rest breaks will reduce driver layovers and improve both safety and efficiency."

[doctor noe]

16 hour workday...ain't gonna happen

[M. Dodge Thomas]

Also keep in mind cell phone use puts you almost at somewhere around .05-.08 (I think, not positive on this statistic)

Interesting comparison - up to a point. Seem to me the differences are:

- Cell phone impairment is usually intermittent, the effects of sleep deprecation are continuous and cumulative.

- Cell phone usage can be voluntarily discontinued anytime you believe it's hazardous - there are many times I just don't answer when driving, or when I delay making a call.

Discontinuing consciousness while diving, OTOH, is generally inventory, and generally has immediate serious consequences.

[Bikers4Bush]

Driving in a CRX is not nearly as taxing as driving a semi. If you've never driven one or ridden in one then you couldn't possibly understand the difference.

Holding semi truck drivers to a certain number of hours a day is not needless, pointless or hurtful. It's smart.

If WalMart wants 16 hour days then they can buy sleepers and employ team drivers. There's no reason the rest of us should be endangered to further improve their bottom line.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

There's no reason the rest of us should be endangered to further improve their bottom line.

And THAT is the real bottom line.

[Guillermo]

I'm not saying they're perfect, just way better than average.

[traviskicks]

Interesting stats, but I'm not sure what those stats have to do with this matter. SUVs probably result in a higher percentages of deaths then other cars, just cuz they tend to crush the other car with a greater force generated by their greater mass F=MA. Big transport trucks like the ones we are discussing have a large mass, are difficult to control, and have trouble stopping - so we would expect the statistics you site to be the case. Trucks and jeeps are more likely to flip and cause death. Motorcycles, I would guess, have the highest rate of driver death around (and prob high crash rate too). Should we outlaw all of these? Should everyone be forced to drive a government regulated, government produced car. Should our roads be like our public school system?

[TXBSAFH]

Maybe as a whole, but I have seen some borderline kamakazi's on the Houston freeways. But in fairness, I rack up a lot of miles on the freeways.

[TXBSAFH]

Should we outlaw all of these? Should everyone be forced to drive a government regulated, government produced car.

You are, your car and every other one on the road must conform to a set of dot safety rules or it legally can not be registered to drive on the roads. You drivers license is also a set of standards you must meet to legally drive. Driving recognized as a legal privilege not a right.

[Mensius]

Driving in a CRX is not nearly as taxing as driving a semi. If you've never driven one or ridden in one then you couldn't possibly understand the difference.

I would not drive cross country in a CRX on a bet. You can't be serious.

By the way, the 14 hour window that is now in effect started when:

LAST YEAR

Before that, there was no window to complete the 10 hours
maximum driving allowable in a day.

[investigateworld]

"If a trucker is willing to work 16 hours and Wall-Mart is willing to pay them for it, then what is the problem?"

I agree with you as long as that driver is circling a Wal-mart parking lot. Once he (she) takes that 80,000 pound rig onto the highway, it's the public business.

[Labyrinthos]

Accidents involving haevy trucks have been dropping.

Maybe that's because the DOT has reduced over the last few years the hours of service that a trucker can work. And lets not forget that advent of GPD's that can tell an employer whether its driver is working more hours than allowed by law or pushing the speed limit.

[Bikers4Bush]

I can't be serious? Are you actually going to compare driving a car to driving a semi and then say that I can't be serious?

"Before that, there was no window to complete the 10 hours
maximum driving allowable in a day."

Right, and they weren't ever required to be off for a straight 8 hours or anything like that were they?

[traviskicks]

That is an interesting take on it, but consider this: Should companies be permitted to offer contracts which stipulate that the driver drive drunk? Sure, if that happened you could pin it all on the drivers, they weren't forced to take the contract... but highway deaths would skyrocket, and I, for one, wouldn't do any driving.
---

lol - This is probably a question for a lawyer. Obviously, its just a theoretical, hypothetical cuz any company that did this would no doubt go out of business quite quickly, first from the added expense, second from their loss of business if it became known, and third I bet their insurance companies would have a cow. I bet most drivers would take the extra money and just falsify their books like their currently do anyway! Perhaps swilling and spitting a little gin before picking up their checks :)

but, I think the law is that if you pay someone to break a law then you are liable - ex hired murder. If the law is changed so that no law is broken - if a trucker is paid to drive 18 hours - then any negligence on the part of the trucker, I would think, would only lie with the trucker.

I'd be interested to hear from a lawyer if this analysis is correct...

[Paved Paradise]

I was thinking the same thing. I get up before 6 a.m. everyday and rarely get to bed before 10 p.m. and except when I'm really fortunate and can read or rent a movie, it's constant work - commute - job - dinner - chores - carting the kid around or whatever. 16 hours is nothing. However, I certainly don't want truckers that are tired.

[Dazedcat]

Ah Wal-Mart. The gift that just keeps on giving. Sixteen hour work days now? Terrific. This on top of their abuse of current child labor laws, sub-contractors using illegals to clean their stores (without Wal-Mart knowing of course rofl).......it just gets better by the day.

Cheap offshore merch has no conscience. Sadly judging by a few posts in this thread, neither do the people who crave them.

[Mensius]

Right, and they weren't ever required to be off for a straight 8 hours or anything like that were they?

You could work 10 hours then you needed to take at least 8 consecutive hours
off. Basic stuff. Now a driver must take 10 consecutive hours
off. There is still the maximum set allowance of 70 hours driving
in an 8 day period. The 16 hour workday only opens the window (by 2 hours)
for the completion of the 11 hour maximum driving day.

Trucks of today are not what the were years ago. They are more drivable and comfortable
than most cars. They have to be.

[Bikers4Bush]

They may be more driveable and comfortable but they still don't compare to the ride in a car and they never will even air shocks can only do so much.

"There is still the maximum set allowance of 70 hours driving
in an 8 day period. The 16 hour workday only opens the window (by 2 hours)
for the completion of the 11 hour maximum driving day."

And that will stop them from running double sets of log books how? It won't, if anything it will encourage further abuse of the current system. When you get paid by the mile every minute the truck isn't eating miles costs you.

No thanks, WalMart can suck it up and deal with it.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Yeah, the DOT safety rules. Thanks for jogging my memory. Years ago, I knew a neighbor whose husband drove big rigs. You have to keep logs proving that you only drive for so many hours at a stretch. He was trying to figure out how to fudge the figures to make his boss happy, but not get caught.

This is just going to be great :(

[Mensius]

but they still don't compare to the ride in a car and they never will

I beg to differ..

And that will stop them from running double sets of log books how?

Fuel receipts are used to confirm log book entries.
Now scale crossings are computerized and therefor DOT can see
if a truck went from Kansas City to Seattle in 24 hours.

The fine for this is very large. Granted, some trucking companies push drivers.
But the majority find it uneconomical for a myriad of reasons not
to run compliant. It simply is not worth it.